This has been an extraordinary trip aboard National Geographic Sea Bird.  Each day, we’ve discovered something new and exciting—both for first time visitors to Southeast Alaska and seasoned naturalist alike—and today was no different.

This morning, we visited Port Althorp on Chichagof Island and the kayakers among us were greeted by a pair of Pacific white-sided dolphins as we paddled away from shore. These beautiful marine mammals, with their delicate black and white stripes and sweeping dorsal fins, are rarely seen in the inside waters of Southeast Alaska, instead preferring the deep offshore waters over the continental shelf. These two animals, however, clearly delighted in the shallow bay and in our kayaks, porpoising and darting about as we sat and watched. Even those who chose not to paddle but to hike among the luxurious forests in search of newly emerged flowers were treated to some great encounters with the dolphins while shuttling back and forth between the ship and shore.

In the afternoon, we repositioned the ship to a little anchorage among the Inian Islands. These steep, forested islands stand guard at the northern entrance to Southeast Alaska between the open Gulf of Alaska to the west and Icy Strait eastward. Fast-moving tidal waters flow through the narrow channels surrounding the islands and create turbulent boils and eddies that upwell nutrients to the surface. This in turn attracts eagles and gulls, which wheel over the waves waiting for hapless fish to be swept from the bottom. Steller’s sea lions, too, dive among the eddies searching for salmon that are on their way back to their natal streams. Even sea otters, which prefer shellfish over ‘finfish,’ come to these bountiful waters to feed in the nearshore kelp forests.

Abundant life, majestic forests draped over steep mountainous islands, and emerald green seas—the Inian Islands embody all that makes Southeast Alaska so special.